Go Now, You Are Forgiven
by aquaryuugekkou
Summary: A 20 year old Raidou discovers what it means to truly be a shinobi. Rated T for swearing, unpleasant things, and possible RaixGen
1. Present

**Just a disclaimer - beyond the usual "I do not own these characters - they belong to Masashi Kishimoto" - I feel the need to inform you that I can't write fight scenes. I've tried, but my brain apparently just doesn't work that way. For that matter...I can't really write at all, so just enjoy this if you feel like it!**

It was a late season thunderstorm, one of those that might be enjoyable if it was actually warm outside. But it wasn't, and the rapidly dropping temperature was slowly sapping Raidou's energy as he huddled, shivering on a tree branch. Hail pounded through the leaves, popping off the tree bark and stinging his skin. He checked the wound on his leg - still bleeding sluggishly. He didn't want to waste the chakra to try and heal it again.

He had been in the woods for three days now. Three days without sleep or food, save for the soldier pill he had taken during the first night. He knew he needed to find shelter before he crashed. Once the effects of the pill wore off he would be essentially helpless. His attackers - 5 ABNU - had been relentless, allowing him no more than a half-hour rest at a time.

At least they didn't want him dead. He would have fallen a long time ago if they actually intended to kill him.

He peered through the rain and leaves at the building that loomed in front of him. The tower had been his destination all along, and now he sat a mere twenty yards from it, surrounded and rapidly running out of options. His meager weapons had been depleted, and all he currently had left was an exploding tag – one that he prayed hadn't been saturated by the rain.

His attackers were waiting. He knew he had to move quickly. There was only going to be one shot at this. He willed his muscles to cooperate, his arms and legs shaking so badly that his twenty year old body ached. If the pill didn't wear off first, he would certainly be downed by hypothermia.

He plotted his course of action, hoping that his intentions wouldn't be telegraphed to his pursuers. And then he sensed them coming.

Raidou leapt off the branch a few seconds before it exploded in a thousand deadly shards. He careened off an adjacent tree and spun out of the way of a fireball. The doors to the tower were only a few yards ahead. He feinted toward the entrance and ducked as a handful of kunai embedded in the branch in front of him. He spun around the branch, yanked one of the blades out of the wood and dove to another tree. He sent a wind shuriken toward his attackers and reached for his last exploding tag. His fingers were numb and he fumbled with the paper, praying it would still be effective. He activated the seal, wrapped it around the weapon's handle, and took off toward the tower. He twisted as he cleared the branches, flinging it back at the trunk of the tree. Then he turned and dove through the door.

The force of the explosion knocked him off his feet, and he slid, fetching up against a pillar. The doors rebounded with their own weight and swung shut again. Raidou lay still for a moment, breathing heavily in the dry warmth of the vestibule. He listened for sounds of his attackers but there was nothing except a faint buzzing in his ears – remnants of the explosion.

He rolled slowly to his feet. Water dripped from his clothes and his soaked shoes squished slightly as he moved around the pillar. He ignored the aching protest of his injured leg and crouched in the shadows near the wall. There were torches lit along the length of the room and a door stood ajar at the far side. He peered around him again, his over-focused eyes picking up stark details in the relative brightness of the torches. There was still no sign of his pursuers.

He waited a moment longer and then straightened. He slipped out of his sandals, knowing even their soft sound could give away his position. Keeping to the shadows between the torches, he slowly began to make his way down the open corridor. His feet were silent against the cool stones of the floor and he tried to control his breathing. He listened around the sound of his teeth chattering for any other noise, but heard nothing to indicate that other people were in the building.

Raidou reached the far door in a matter of moments and stood outside. It was open but not far enough for him to make out what was on the other side. He wasn't sure what to do next. This was his access to the rest of the building, but he knew that bursting through a door unarmed against potentially lethal adversaries wasn't a smart move. Still…

He took a deep breath and tensed, ready to leap into the unknown. And then a voice carried through the opening.

"You may come in. We will not harm you."

He froze for a moment at the unexpected invitation and exhaled. He didn't have much of a choice. He straightened out of his crouch and pushed slowly on the door. It gave easily and swung open.

Raidou stepped into a softly lit room already occupied by five other individuals. Five masked faces watched him as he entered cautiously, looking as if he was ready to dive back out into the hall at the sign of a perceived attack.

The closest masked figured stepped toward him slowly, a tall man – the one that had given him the stinging wound in his leg.

"Congratulations, Raidou-san," the large man said, voice muffled by the bird-mask covering his face. "You've done very well."


	2. What Happened Before

**Um, I couldn't quite get this right, but I'm working with a deadline so…yeah. Not happy with it but here it is.**

Every ninja child in Konoha grew up knowing about the elite ANBU forces - or at least knowing that they existed. They whispered stories to one another on the playground about the secretive organization, stories about rogue-ninja who met gruesome deaths at the hands of the masked figures.

Raidou never cared about these tales. To him, the ANBU were a distant entity, one that didn't impact his life in any significant way. They were merely ghosts who took care of the unsavory parts of being a ninja village-for-hire.

Raidou focused on doing his duty as a child of one of the village's respected shinobi families – he studied hard at the academy, progressed smoothly on his Genin team, and passed the Chuunin exam with relative ease. The ninja lifestyle came easily to him and his abilities, coupled with his natural good-looks, made him popular with his peers. Like any normal teenage boy, the warm adoration of his friends and schoolmates went to his head, and he spent much of his time strutting around the village like he owned it.

His parents tried to break him of it, gently of course. When he was fifteen, his father overheard him bragging to a young neighbor about his most recent mission. The man drew him aside, determined to instill some sort of wisdom in the boy.

Namiashi Oshura was a large man, broad-shouldered and imposing but with eyes that could be exceedingly gentle with his children.

"Come walk with me," he said, throwing an arm around his son's shoulders, a move that was becoming increasingly difficult as the boy grew. They walked down the street in front of their home, away from the bustle of the village center.

"You are already a great shinobi," Oshura said to his son, "and I am incredibly proud of you."

Raidou slipped his hands into his pockets, sauntering lazily under his father's arm. He hated sentimental conversations but grudgingly put up with it because he loved his dad. They walked past the academy, toward the stone monument that commemorated the village's fallen warriors. A genin team trudged past them, heading in the opposite direction. The kids looked exhausted and their sensei wasn't even trying to hide the look of satisfaction on his face. Raidou smiled as the kids grumbled to one another.

"Son," his father continued. "With the title of shinobi comes a great responsibility. You've been lucky so far, but one day that won't be the case. There is still a lot you have to learn."

Raidou didn't think that luck had anything to do with it, but he remained quiet.

"I wish someone had told me these things when I was your age." Oshura spoke quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself. Raidou glanced up at him and was surprised to see a dark sadness lingering in the lines of his aging face. They stopped walking and Raidou looked around at the memorial stone that sat peacefully a few feet away. He seldom came here. They stood in companionable silence for a few minutes, enjoying the peaceful stillness of the village at sunset.

They both studied the names on the stone. Raidou recognized few of them – his father, too many.

Raidou took a deep breath and sighed. "Hiromi-sensei used to tell us that all these people are the heroes of the village." His father looked on in silence. Raidou rolled back his shoulders. "I'm going to be famous one day, dad. People in this village are going to know my name, even before it gets written on that stone. I am going to be a hero."

Before Raidou could take another breath, Oshura grabbed his shoulders and spun him so they were facing each other.

"Raidou," he said, locking eyes with the boy. "You have this fanciful idea of what it means to live life as a ninja. There is nothing glorious about the path you have chosen." His voice was rough with age and emotion and he dug his fingers into the muscles of his son's shoulders. "Some of the world's greatest heroes will never be recognized. Nothing is sacred, do you understand? You must never forget that nothing in a shinobi's life is sacred."

Raidou didn't wince at his father's strong grip, but the look in the man's eyes made him quiver. There was a darkness there, a desolation that made the man almost unrecognizable. Raidou swallowed and nodded. Those merciless brown eyes clung to his for a moment longer before Oshura pulled him into a stiff hug.

"You will be a great man someday."

Raidou stood pressed to the strong chest of his father. He was shaken, having glimpsed a part of his father that he thought few had ever seen. He wrapped his arms around the man's strong back.

"I love you, dad," he whispered. When his father released him, the strange darkness had left his eyes, and Oshura looked at him with familiar gentleness.

_Nothing is sacred_.

At the time he really had no idea what his father was talking about.

Raidou thought he had started to understand in the summer he turned seventeen, when hell descended on the village and the world was ripped out from under him. He stood by helplessly as his home crumbled under the feet of a demon; pulled the bodies of his friends out of burning rubble and watched in muted horror as the Fourth sacrificed his life for them all.

He thought he understood completely when he came upon the smoking body of his indestructible father, clothes burned away and features melted by the hot breath of the fox. Looking down at the remains of the man he had loved more than any other, he started to comprehend the truth behind his father's words.

With his mother and sister lying injured in a medic's tent, Raidou was left to the lonely task of bathing and burying his father's body. He hoisted the man onto his young shoulders and carried him reverently from the battlefield. There were hundreds of them – ninja and civilian alike. Families mourned in the open, burying their loved ones in a field far away from where the fox and the Fourth and finally fallen.

Raidou laid his father on the ground across from a boy who was standing over the bodies of his own family. The boy's shaggy brown hair hung down onto cheeks that were still full and smooth with youth. Raidou studied him absently for a moment before bending to the difficult task before him. He did his best to wipe away the blood and soot, attempting to return his father to a respectable state.

He uncovered something that afternoon, under the torn fabric of his father's shirt. Out of the grime of battle and death swirled a tattoo, one that Raidou recognized instantly. He sat back on his heels, fingers resting on the faded red mark, and recalled the bleak look that had filled his father's eyes two years before. He recognized it for what it was now – the look of a man who had seen the darkest pieces of the world.

_Is that what you meant, dad? _

He looked up at the sound of someone crying. The shaggy-haired boy was kneeling next to his parents' bodies, head hung in prayer. He sniffed loudly and opened, his eyes and noticing Raidou looking at him. He wiped his arm across his eyes self-consciously and bent to kiss his mother on the forehead. Raidou looked on as the kid stood, using a small shovel for support, and awkwardly started digging in the hard ground. His arm was bandaged, hindering his ability to work smoothly.

Raidou remained still for a moment longer before rising to his feet. He picked up his own shovel and walked over to stand next to the boy. Without a word, Raidou bent and started shoveling away clumps of dirt and rock. The boy froze for a moment, watching Raidou's efficient movements. More tears leaked from his once-innocent eyes, but he didn't bother wiping them away. They worked together in silence, digging three separate holes and slowly lowering the bodies of their parents to their final resting places. The sun was setting as they stood shoulder to shoulder at the foot of the small mounds, watching as other people – ninja and civilians alike – buried their own loved ones.

"What's your name?" the shaggy-haired boy asked quietly.

"Namiashi Raidou."

"Thank you for your help, Raidou-san."

Raidou looked down at the boy, who stared resolutely over the hundreds of fresh graves that dotted the field in front of them.

"What's yours?"

"Shiranui Genma."

His small shoulders were set in determination. Looking at the boy, Raidou suddenly felt a profound sense of reassurance. For the first time since the sky had rained flames down on them all, he realized that everything was going to be okay. If this kid could look over a new graveyard with such resolve in his eyes, then surely the village would survive.

"I am honored to lay my father next to yours, Genma-san."

The boy looked up and Raidou gave him a small smile.

Three years later, kneeling on a tile floor in the basement of the village headquarters, Raidou would look back on this moment and wonder at the direction it had led him. Standing shoulder to shoulder with the boy who would become his best friend, Raidou promised himself that he would achieve what his father had nearly a decade before. He would serve with the village's most elite forces; he would be a faceless hero like his father had been. He vowed that day, at the foot of his father's grave, that he would be ANBU.


	3. Back to the Present

**Thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed! So, yeah…here's the third part. This is not the last chapter…even though the ending sounds a little final…there's more to some. Hope it's ok!**

"You've done very well, Raidou-san."

Raidou had enough control not to gape at the five masked faces staring at him from around the room. His legs were shaking with cold and fatigue and he fought to keep from swaying. None of them moved and he eyed the large man who had spoken, the man who had been leading the squad. He still didn't trust them.

"It's alright," the man said, taking another step forward. "You can relax."

_Yeah right, _Raidou thought. Movement from his right side made him tense and edge back toward the door. The ANBU stopped, raising a hand in a gesture of reassurance.

"Seriously, kid," the ANBU – a woman – said. "We're not going to attack you."

Raidou looked at her warily for a moment longer before straightening out of his defensive stance. She didn't hesitate and moved toward him smoothly, avoiding any sudden motions. Raidou cautiously took the towel and canteen that she held out to him and she backed away to her previous position against the wall. Raidou eyed them all; he still wasn't positive that this wasn't some kind of trap.

"Take a few minutes to tend to your wounds," the squad leader said quietly. "When you're ready, we'll take you back to the village. I know the Hokage is anxious to hear how you've done."

Raidou stared at them. _Wait a minute…_

"That's it?" his voice was scratchy from lack of use.

There was a snort from his left. "Kid, most people don't even make it through the first night."

"Were you expecting more from us?" The tone of the squad leader's voice belied his amusement.

Raidou studied them all for a moment. Two had sat down against the far wall and were drying off their gear. The other three were still standing, but certainly seemed at ease. Raidou wished he could see their faces.

"I…no…well," Raidou stammered for a moment longer before finally shutting his mouth. _Well,_ he thought, _at least I'm finally out of the rain. _

He moved over to the wall on his left and started to sit down. His legs gave out halfway through the motion and he went down with an unceremonious thump, towel and canteen falling next to him. Raidou tried not to wheeze as the air was unexpectedly driven from of his lungs, and he looked up through watering eyes as the squad leader crouched in front of him.

"We were starting to wonder when you might drop." He patted the exhausted man on the knee. "Why don't you let Mei take a look at you. She's our medic."

Raidou was going to shake his head and decline but found that he was unable to form words. Everything around him had started to go a bit fuzzy and there was a buzzing in his ears that was definitely not left over from the explosion. The masked face in front of him shifted and was replaced by another. Raidou felt gentle hands touch his forehead and wrist and then the warm flow of chakra as she slowly fed it into his system. The tunnel that had started to close around his vision paused and then slowly started to widen, the room coming into better focus.

"And you're back," she murmured, a lightness in her voice that surprised him. A pair of startlingly green eyes peered at him through the holes in the mask. He saw them narrow slightly and realized that she was smiling. "How are you feeling?"

He took a deep breath, ignoring the lingering ache in his chest. "Feel great," he whispered. He was aware that she was still holding his wrist, and, under her strong grip, it was the only part of his body that wasn't shaking.

She chuckled and placed her other hand in the center of his chest. "We'll get you warmed up a bit. All you need to do is relax."

Pleasant warmth started to radiate through his ribcage and Raidou leaned his head back against the wall. He watched over her head at the two ANBU in the corner who were meticulously checking their swords for moisture. They were talking quietly, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. One laughed, the sound deadened by the plaster covering his face. Rai wondered vaguely if the masks made it difficult to breathe…

He was still shaking when she finally pulled her hand away, though it was now more a tremble and less of a violent shudder. She sat back on her heels and studied him. "Are you injured anywhere?"

Raidou shook his head.

"What about your leg?"

He sniffed and looked down at it. It had stopped bleeding, though it still stung. "It'll be fine," he murmured, and then he cocked her a small grin. He caught the slight roll in her eyes as she looked away and rose to her feet.

"You think you can make it back on your own two legs?" the squad leader asked, looking down from his great height.

Raidou nodded. "I'm alright now." The tall man reached out a strong hand and grasped Raidou by the wrist, pulling him to his feet. He hesitated as Raidou regained his balance and then, when Raidou was standing firmly, clapped him on the shoulder. "See, you don't look half as dead as you did when you first staggered in here. Mei knows her stuff, eh?"

Raidou managed not to stagger as the strong hand landed on his shoulder and forced a smile onto his face. This sudden change in the ANBU's behavior was making his head ache. They had spent the last few days driving him past his limits, making him bleed, and now they wanted to joke with him. He was too tired for this.

The majority of the squad went ahead to take care of other business. The squad leader and Mei, however, walked with Raidou at a moderate pace back to the village. It was just past midnight, the markets and shops locked up and silent. A few men and women patrolled the streets, but even in the ninja quarters things were quiet. The village headquarters, however, was lit up like a festival tree. This wasn't unusual – there were always people working late into the night, and the Hokage himself often fell asleep working at his own desk.

The old man was sitting at that very desk when Raidou was escorted into his office for the second time that week. He hoped this visit didn't end the way the last had, with the squad leader sticking him in the neck with a senbon and dragging his unconscious body into the forest of doom.

Raidou couldn't help squinting in the artificial light of the Hokage's office. The old man smiled at him around the stem of his pipe.

"Raidou-san, back in one piece, I see."

The young man bowed stiffly. "Yes, sir."

"How did he do, Kuma-san?"

The squad leader stepped forward so he was standing next to Raidou. "Hokage-sama, he evaded capture and serious injury for three days with minimal provisions. His technique is commendable – he even managed to knock Hato-san out for a good half-hour."

The Hokage eyebrows twitched. "And do you believe that his skill in the field qualifies him?"

Kuma nodded stiffly. "It is my judgment, and that of the rest of my squad, that Raidou-san is qualified."

"I would expect no less." The Hokage studied Raidou closely for a moment. "I remember your father standing in front of me when he qualified for ANBU." He smiled at a memory. "Of course, he didn't fare nearly as well as you have."

Raidou straightened. "It is an honor to follow in my father's footsteps."

The Hokage frowned and leaned back in his chair. His eyes were thoughtful, partially hidden by the smoke swirling up from his pipe. From where Raidou stood, he thought the old man looked troubled.

"The village takes great pride in the ninja you've become, Raidou-san." The Hokage sighed, suddenly looking every year his age. "Of course, there's always something bad to temper the good."

Raidou wasn't sure he heard correctly. "Hokage-sama?"

The man gazed at him for a moment longer. "Nothing," he murmured. His eyes cleared and he leaned forward, his elbows braced on the desk. "Kuma-san will take you someplace where you can get cleaned up. We'll want to debrief you on procedure and protocol, but I think perhaps first you could use a little rest."

Raidou had been standing steadily this whole time, but he was no longer able to hide the shaking that had returned to his limbs. He figured the soldier pill was finally starting to wear off and, even in the warmth of the building, he was starting to fade.

"I am proud of you, Raidou-san. And I know your father would be as well."

Raidou felt a small burst of pride and gratitude and bowed deeply to the Hokage. The squad leader placed a hand on his shoulder as he straightened and gently turned him out of the room. Walking down the quiet hallways of the headquarters, Raidou felt a deep sense of peace.

Finally, after three years, he was going to fulfill the promise he had made at his father's grave.


	4. Still the Present

**Part 4 – There's more swearing in this, so I apologize if you don't care for that. Hope you enjoy!**

The multistory Headquarters building was the hub of activity in the hidden village. The Hokage oversaw everything from the top floor; central intelligence occupied the middle floors, and the ANBU operated out of the basement. It was the most secure building in the village and access was usually limited. Raidou had once spent a few weeks working intel on the third floor, but other than the handful of times he had been in the Hokage's office, he had never been allowed entry to the rest of the building.

He followed a step behind the squad leader as the large man led him through the upper halls. "I'll take you down to our part of the building," he was saying over his shoulder. "They stuck us underground. Guess that shows what they think of us, eh?" His eyes narrowed the same way the medic's had.

_For trained killers, these guys sure do smile a lot, _Raidou thought as Kuma stopped in front of a door.

There was a brief moment of silence as the two men looked at one another and then the door unlocked with a soft click. Raidou glanced at it curiously and then surveyed the area for some kind of security mechanism. There were none – at least none that his eyes could see.

Kuma glanced at him again as they made their way down a stairway. "Security is tighter here than anywhere else in the village. ANBU have access to all three levels. There are no keypads, no cameras, no scanners. Nobody can henge their way in here."

Raidou threw him a glance and waited.

Kuma tapped his shoulder lightly. "The tattoo. It's actually a seal; our form of a security system. It permits us access to the entire building and these doors only open for us."

They had descended five levels and now exited the stairwell into a well-lit chamber.

"You'd have to be one sneaky bastard to get in here."

Raidou looked at his surroundings and muttered, "That or a rogue ANBU."

Kuma looked over his shoulder slowly. "ANBU don't go rogue." The message was as clear as the glint in his eyes: you'd be dead before you could even get out of the village. Raidou eyed the back of his head as they continued down another hallway. ANBU were supposed to be the watchers of the village. Apparently, they were also some of the watched.

They were moving through an area that looked like any typical office setting when Kuma stopped suddenly. He gestured for Raidou to wait and stepped a few feet away to talk to another man, one of the few on the floor who was not wearing a mask.

Raidou took the time to survey his surroundings. Like any office, this one was filled with low-walled cubicles. A few offices dotted the walls, doors closed and blinds drawn. The placed buzzed with activity, even though it was well past midnight by now. Several people had looked up when they walked onto the floor and Raidou could feel eyes on him from around the room. He shifted his weight subtly – the novelty of the situation had taken his mind off the fatigue for a little while, but now he was seriously hoping there was a comfortable bed in his future.

He eyed the men and women in the room as Kuma turned from his conversation. The squad leader jerked his head for Raidou to follow him and the smaller man fell into step once more. Kuma was walking faster now, his strides long enough that Raidou had to hustle to keep up. He threw a final glance over his shoulder before Kuma ushered him through another door and down a small hallway.

Two doors opened off the end, marked with symbols for males and females. The men went through the right-hand door into a pristine locker room.

"Here you go," Kuma said, making his way through the bank of lockers. He stopped and gestured to one of them. "There's a set of regulation blacks in there. The gear we took off you is in there as well. You should find everything in order." He pulled a towel and a bar of soap off a shelf and handed them to the exhausted man. "Go ahead and get cleaned up. When you're done, you can head down the hall to the briefing room. Inoshi-sama will brief you on protocol. Will you be okay from here?" Raidou nodded, suddenly unable to keep the rest of his body from shaking as well.

"If you need anything, uh, well, I'll leave you to your own devices. I have to get back to work." The friendly tone was gone from Kuma's voice and Raidou was suddenly looking at the man who had chased him down in the woods.

Raidou cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'll be fine."

Kuma continued to look at Raidou. When he spoke again his voice was tight with malice. "You should know - we picked up a traitor the other day."

Raidou's stomach fell at the words. "Who?"

"Some kid," Kuma spat. "Caught him selling secrets to the Cloud, the fucker. They're working on him in interrogation right now."

Rai nodded, trying to think of an appropriate response. "Good," he finally muttered.

"That being the case, I should go see if they need any help." There was an edge in the man's voice that made the hair on the back of Raidou's neck stand on end. Kuma looked at him for a moment longer before adjusting his gloves and murmuring, "Glad to have you with us." The man turned and exited the room, leaving Raidou alone in the room.

Raidou stood still for a moment in the silence. The buzz from the lights was almost overpowering after spending the past three days in the woods. His hands shook around the towel and he desperately craved a hot meal. He hoped the protocol briefing wouldn't last too long and stiffly began pulling the wet clothes from his body.

____________________

A half-hour later, he stepped out from the steam-filled shower stall and wrapped the towel around waist. The hot water had taken care of his shaking, but now his eyes were heavy with the need for sleep. He brushed water out of his eyes and started to sort through the gear in his locker. It was an ANBU-issue uniform, black pants and a sleeveless shirt. There were wrist-guards and leg wraps, and a grey vest hung next to the green one they stripped off him when they had taken him into the woods. He considered them both for a moment before pulling the grey one from its hook. He shrugged into it, letting it settle on his torso. The whole thing felt foreign, simultaneously too tight and too loose on his body. He rolled his shoulders one last time and closed the door to the locker with a metallic bang.

_Now what._

There didn't appear to be anyone else in the locker room. He didn't know where the briefing room was and decided to head back out to the main corridor.

The hallway was quiet, everyone off in their respective cubicles on the main floor. He limped along, looking for someone from who he could ask directions, or for something that might be a briefing room.

_No luck_.

He paused for a moment, rubbing the vision back into his eyes. He heard a door open at the far end of the hall and turned. A tall young man stepped out into the main hall, brow furrowed in thought. He looked familiar – dark-haired and broad-shouldered - and Raidou tried to think of where he had seen him before. He was dressed in a jounin uniform, sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and he started walking toward Raidou seemingly without noticing him.

Raidou stepped back against the wall, preparing to ask the man about the location of the briefing room. He was opening his mouth to speak when the tall man looked up. He continued to frown for a moment, but then his face softened as he looked at Raidou through a pair of keen eyes. A thin scar ran across his left cheek and Raidou suddenly realized who he was – Morino Ibiki, the psych genius.

_Shit,_ Raidou thought. _This kid's only Genma's age. _He marveled at this for a second before Ibiki raised his hand in greeting.

"Namiashi-san," he called as he moved closer. "They told me about your little escapade in the woods. Pretty impressive. They had to carry me back here after I got to the tower. Most people don't even make it that far."

Ibiki smiled, a gesture that made him look almost like any other shit-eating eighteen-year-old – except for the fact that it didn't reach his eyes.

Raidou didn't know how to respond so he gave a slight bow and murmured a thank you. "I'm just glad to be dry again."

Ibiki nodded and replied, "I'm sure."

Several moments passed.

The younger man was studying Raidou closely, enough to make the smaller man want to shift where he stood. He opened his mouth to ask about the briefing room but Ibiki was faster. "You were on B-ranked missions?"

Rai didn't blink at the random question. "Uh, yeah, 24 B-rank and 4 A-rank in the last year."

Ibiki nodded. "Any of those take you to Cloud?"

Raidou thought for a moment, not taking his eyes off Ibiki's. "One, but that was several months ago."

"You go alone?"

Raidou couldn't stop his eyes from narrowing slightly. "No," he said slowly. "I was partnered with Shiranui Genma."

Ibiki nodded again and Raidou wished he would blink. The tall man's youthful appearance was marred by the stark intensity of his eyes. It felt like Ibiki was looking inside his brain.

"Perhaps you can assist me with something," the young man murmured, somewhat distractedly.

Raidou raised his eyebrows. "I'm supposed to debrief with someone named Inoshi right now."

"That can wait."

They stared at one another for a moment longer. Raidou suddenly felt off, though he couldn't be sure whether it was the eyes of the man in front of him or just disorientation from lack of sleep. He finally sighed and the nodded. "Alright."

He didn't break eye-contact until Ibiki turned back to the door he had come though. Raidou waited a moment, wishing that he had run into someone else first, and then followed behind him.


	5. It Remains

**Still plugging along. Sorry about mistakes in previous chapters – or mistakes in this one that I didn't catch. Thanks for reading!**

Ibiki lead Raidou through another one of those lockless doors. The hallway behind it was different, with none of the relative comfort of the office setting. The walls were white-washed cinderblock and the intense artificial light reflected off of a concrete floor. Raidou was reminded of a hospital – or a prison.

This part of the building felt wrong. He could feel it under his skin like foreign charka. There were no people walking around here and an unnatural silence hung over the area. Several doors lined the long corridor, some of them glowing faintly - sealed by jutsu to prevent people from entering…or exiting. Raidou realized abruptly where they were and felt cold knot form in his stomach. These locked rooms were holding cells and the farther they walked, the stronger the wards became.

Part of Raidou wanted to ask where they were going. The other part wanted to turn and flee back the way they had come. Something was tugging at his brain, analytical brain cells trying to get his attention. The answer to his question was just outside his awareness, but before he could think too hard, Ibiki stopped walking at the end of the hall and turned to face him.

"Now," he said quietly. "Technically you're not supposed to go through this next door, but because of circumstances, and because you're with me, we're waiving protocol for the moment."

Raidou looked at him with a guarded expression. He didn't want to reveal the fact that his heart rate had doubled. Though, he figured Ibiki's eyes might just see it anyway.

"I don't think I have to tell you," Ibiki continued, "that whatever you see and hear down here is confidential."

"Of course," Raidou replied. He swallowed anxiously. Normally he could keep his nerves in check, but something about this place had him completely on edge.

Ibiki held his gaze for a moment longer before he nodded. "Stay close to me. Don't want to lose you." He flashed a quick imitation of a smile and opened a door to his left.

It was like stepping into another world.

As the door sealed shut, Raidou was suddenly reminded that they were deep underground. The ceiling above him was low and the walls looked like they had been hewn from stone. Old light fixtures hung at intervals and cast dark shadows along the floor. And it wasn't quiet. Raidou's ears picked up the sounds that he was afraid to hear – terrified sobbing, raised voices, and from somewhere down the corridor, a man screaming.

Raidou balked for a moment and Ibiki turned to look at him, eyes black in the dim light. "Coming?" he asked.

Raidou took a deep breath and forced his feet to continue moving. Every ounce of him was itching to say no, but this was what he signed up for. He knew ANBU were in charge of most of the village's interrogations, but he wasn't expecting to be faced with it so soon.

The two men moved down the hall in the direction from which the screams had originated earlier. The prisoner was quiet now, but the sound still echoed in Raidou's ears. Ibiki paused in front of a door, waited for the lock to deactivate, and then stepped inside. Raidou followed behind and was momentarily blind in the utter darkness of the room. It felt small and he could sense two other people there besides himself and Ibiki. A two-way mirror took up most of the right-hand wall, though from where Raidou was standing he couldn't see into the next room. He could hear, though, unpleasant sounds echoing metallically through an intercom.

Ibiki had stepped forward and was bent in whispered conversation with the two other men. Raidou didn't try to listen to their conversation. His ears had picked up on something that his exhausted brain couldn't quite grasp, some noise that was oddly familiar. He concentrated on it, trying to place where he had heard it before. He was startled out of his thoughts by a strong hand on his arm. Ibiki was drawing him into the little group.

"Yes," Raidou heard one of them say. "I think that's a good idea." Ibiki's large body was blocking his view of the mirror, but he could still hear things through the intercom – harsh breathing, and a low voice of a man asking questions.

Raidou studied the two other men in the dim light from the mirror. They were older, wearing lab coats over the village's regulation black uniform. One of them held a clipboard and had a pen nestled behind his ear. The other was standing with his arms folded, studying Raidou.

"We hear you were a handful in the woods," the one with the clipboard said pleasantly.

Raidou glanced at Ibiki. "Word travels fast around here," he muttered. He looked at them all for a moment and then blew out a breath, "I was informed that I could be of some help to you."

The nail-biter smiled darkly. "So Ibiki-san told you?"

Raidou stared at him for a moment, crossing his own arms. "Actually, nobody's told me much of anything."

There was a brief moment of silence and then the nail-biter spoke again, eyes steady on Raidou's, almost as if they were measuring him. "Well then, let me fill you in. We've hit…somewhat of a roadblock with one of our prisoners."

"And you think _I_ can help you with this?"

"Oh yes," the man said lightly. "Yes, you can."

He looked over his shoulder and through the mirror into the next room. Ibiki stepped aside and Raidou was finally able to see into the adjacent room. What he saw there made his stomach contract. Two men sat across from one another. The prisoner was bound to a chair, trapped by a body-locking jutsu. Brown hair fell against cheeks that were bloodless from pain and fear. He was mostly naked and shaking, head bent away from the murmuring voice of the ANBU.

Raidou gasped as the oxygen was sucked from the room.

The prisoner was Genma.

The nail-biter's voice sounded distant when he spoke. "Now you see how you can help us."

Raidou couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. Genma was shaking his head slowly, eyes closed tightly against reality. He jerked suddenly in his chair and bent forward to vomit convulsively on the floor.

The world shifted under Raidou's feet and he closed his eyes momentarily. _This isn't happening. _ When he opened them again, Ibiki had moved back into his line of vision and was peering into his eyes.

"You've know him well, yes?" Ibiki asked.

Raidou nodded absently.

The tall man looked faintly satisfied. "Good. Then you can help us get him talking again."

Raidou stared at him, blinked once – twice – three times. "You want _me_…to question him?" he asked softly.

"More or less," the man with the clip-board replied.

There was the sound of more retching through the intercom and Raidou jumped. The other three seemed to ignore it. Raidou looked around Ibiki's shoulder and could just see the back of Genma's head.

"Wait a minute," he said haltingly. "What…why is he here?"

The two technicians shifted their gaze to Ibiki and Raidou looked up at him questioningly. The young man took a breath and spoke matter-of-factly, "We've suspected someone of selling secrets to the Cloud for several months now. Our men have been monitoring the borders and, two days ago, we caught him in an old outpost with one of their jounin."

Raidou gaped at him. "Wha…_he's_ the spy?"

The other men glanced at each other. "So someone did tell you," nail-biter muttered.

Raidou ignored him. "There's got to be some kind of mistake," he said, gesturing vaguely at the mirror. "I've known Genma for years. I can't believe that he would…turn his back on the village." Ibiki cast a side-long glance at the technicians.

"We have plenty of proof," the man with the clipboard said calmly.

"He tried to kill our men," Ibiki added, voice low and deadly.

Raidou looked from face to face, searching for some kind of alternative explanation in their expressions. There was none; the men's eyes were full of flat honesty. Ibiki was gazing at him intently.

"Some of the information we caught him with was highly classified," he said quietly. "One of the documents included details about the Fourth's seal on the demon fox. It seems as if he is helping someone figure out how to set the thing free again."

Something flashed unbidden through Raidou's head, a vision that had long plagued his dreams - the vision of his father's body as he and Genma lowered it into the ground three years before. He remembered the dull ache that had tightened his chest as they shoveled dirt over his inert form.

"I can't believe this," he whispered.

Ibiki was still studying him closely. "Clearly this is coming as a shock to you."

"The fox killed his family. We buried our fathers together," Raidou ground out hoarsely, by way of explanation.

Ibiki's eyes bore into his sharply. "To some people, nothing is sacred."

Raidou felt his hair stand on end.

_Nothing is sacred…_

Was this what his father meant? He suddenly felt numb. In a single moment nothing – and everything – made sense. He continued staring blankly into Ibiki's eyes until the young man spoke again.

"Do you think you can help us?"

Raidou nodded slowly.

"Good," Ibiki murmured.

Raidou's voice was flat when he spoke again. "What do you need me to do?" The three other men gave each other a satisfied look.

"He's got to be close to breaking," the nail-biter said clinically. "The jutsu have already been in effect for several hours. I'll spare you the details, but he's teetering on the brink of insanity. I'm not even sure he knows where he is anymore. Really, it's impressive how long he's held on."

Ibiki leaned down to speak quietly in Raidou's ear. "He's already given us some valuable information, but we suspect he was working with someone else, someone who had access to confidential intelligence files. He's refusing to give anything else up, though. He needs a big enough shock to jolt him through that last barrier. You think you can handle that?"

_Handle that_, Raidou thought, and swallowed an hysterical laugh. The sound of Genma's labored breathing filled his ears. It was making his chest hurt. He wanted to shut it all out, flee the darkened room and run away to…anywhere. He wished briefly that he had never made it through the woods.

"Are you alright?" Ibiki murmured.

He continued looking at Ibiki flatly. _This is all wrong_. He was exhausted, his body ached, and his best friend was being tortured in the basement of the village headquarters. Nothing was right here.

"This isn't a test," he said quietly, his tone indicating a desperate question. Ibiki looked at him gravely.

"Not a test," he said after a moment.

Raidou gazed around his shoulder again at Genma. Tears were streaming down his tortured face now. But Raidou felt no pity. Later, this would haunt him; but in this moment, he felt nothing. Raidou turned his gaze back to the tall ANBU.

"Alright," he said simply.

Ibiki didn't respond, but made a vague gesture with his head. The two technicians stepped away, turning to their various tasks. The tall man never took his eyes off Raidou's. "Come with me," he said, and opened the door to the hallway. Raidou followed him mechanically, moving purely because of his training.

_I am a professional. _

The words ran through his head like a mantra. Right now, it was the only thing he had to hold on to.

Back out in corridor, Raidou felt briefly disoriented, like he had just been awoken from a deep sleep. Ibiki was standing at the door that would lead into the interrogation room, hand ready to turn the knob.

"Wait," Rai whispered hoarsely.

Ibiki paused and turned to look at him.

"Are you sure?" Raidou murmured.

The scowl was back on the young man's face, aging him by several years.

"Yes," he said gravely.

And then he opened the door.


End file.
